EU accounts 'should be vetted' as business confidence drops

News Article - 21 November 2006
Category:

The chief executive of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) has expressed his support for calls to examine European Union (EU) accounts.

Eric Anstee was speaking in response to the announcement by the economic secretary to the Treasury Ed Balls that the EU was failing to balance its books.

"Heads would have rolled had this been a plc. Certainly as a profession I think we can welcome Ed Balls' call to vet EU accounts in the UK," said Mr Anstee.

The support comes as ICAEW publishes its latest quarterly Business Confidence Monitor, which illustrates that confidence in micro businesses has fallen to its lowest level since the survey began three years ago.

Confidence was found to have dropped slightly in most sectors, including banking, finance and insurance sectors, while conversely the IT sector's confidence doubled since the last quarter.

Mr Anstee commented that small businesses should take a more "pro-active" approach to explaining what sort of "regulatory burdens" they are dealing with.

He added that burdens were on the increase and that companies must work with the government to make the decision-makers aware of the impact of their choices.

Article keywords:

---

More industry news

• Think tank warns UK may have already slipped back into recession
• Growing demand for HR staff in technology and international sectors
• Boosting business growth a ‘priority’ to avoid Eurozone slowdown
• HMRC launches alternative disputes pilot scheme this week
• December employment statistics disregard gloomy recruitment predictions
• Eurozone manufacturing PMI shows modest improvement
• UK scores highly for economic governance by ratings agency
• Government launches two-year project focusing on manufacturing sector
• Burden of regulation on UK businesses ‘too high’

Back to news home page »